Investigation Into the Use of Innovative Curricula and Pedagogical Practices for Use by Senior Secondary Students

Investigation Into the Use of Innovative Curricula and Pedagogical Practices for Use by Senior Secondary Students. Gael Ashworth Wellington East Girls’ College Secondary Senior Managers’ Sabbatical Term 3 2018 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Ministry of Education for awarding the sabbatical and also the Board of Trustees of Wellington East Girls’ College in supporting my application and allowing me leave of absence to take advantage of this opportunity. I would also like to thank the Principal, Sally Haughton, and the Senior Leadership Team; Ann Greenaway and Heather Aked as well as Paul Firth, Sue Perry and Caro Atkinson who helped cover my teaching and aspects of my portfolio while I was on leave. Thanks must also go to the schools I visited who were generous with their time giving me insight into their inspiring journeys of change Christchurch ● Ao Tawhiti - Steven Mustor ● Haeata Community Campus - Karyn Gray Auckland ● Hobsonville Point - Sally Hart Tauranga ● Papamoa College - Belinda Develter Executive Summary This report describes the concepts of integration, project based learning and problem based learning; the key factors influencing student engagement and the impact of these innovative pedagogical practices on student engagement, and some of the assessment methods that can be used with these practices. I have also described, as individual case studies, the practices at each of the schools visited and examined how their practices align with identified practices for assessment and engagement. Purpose The purpose of my sabbatical was to explore how New Zealand Schools have designed and implemented innovative curricula and pedagogical practices in the Senior Secondary setting. There are many schools that have adopted an integrated approach to learning in the Junior Secondary area. The challenge continues to be maintaining these approaches in the Senior Secondary years whilst maximising success at NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3. How is this being done successfully and what are the lessons that can be learned from these practices? My sabbatical has been designed to allow me to see a range of innovative learning practices in the New Zealand context. The professional learning I have gained from this experience will enable me to feed into future development of integrated learning programmes for senior students within our own learning community. Rationale/Background By Easter 2019 Wellington East Girls’ College will have completed a major rebuild programme enabling over half of the school to experience teaching and learning in Innovative Learning Environments (ILE). At Wellington East Girls’ College we have been engaged in developing teacher pedagogy to support the move into the ILE’s and have been developing an integrated learning programme for Junior students in an attempt to increase intellectual engagement, with teachers developing project and problem based learning activities. A coherent curriculum will make meaningful connections between learning areas through using shared approaches, collaborative teaching strategies and common strategies around skill development. It will use contexts for learning that allow students to make connections with their prior learning and areas of interest. In 2015 the school was successful in accessing the Teacher led Innovation Fund (TLIF) for three years. This project has enabled us to focus on developing a more collaborative approach to curriculum planning for the integrated junior classes. We have a well established Integrated Studies class for Year 11 students who have been identified as being at-risk of not achieving NCEA Level 1 for a variety of reasons. This has involved two teachers collaborating and planning together to identify a context and integrating appropriate English, Science and Social Science achievement standards. This approach works very well for this group of students and I am interested in seeing if there are opportunities to broaden or modify this approach to meet a wider group of senior students who will have experienced an integrated approach to learning in the junior school. Activities Undertaken Readings and Research ● What are the practices of integration, project based learning and problem based learning ● What are the different types of student engagement and the key factors influencing it. ● What are some of the assessment practices that align with these approaches ● What aspect of school design facilitates the use of these practices ● What are some of the challenges that face staff as they begin to engage in these practices. School Visits School Type Roll Ao Tawhiti Composite Yr 1-15 485 Haeata Community Campus Composite Yr 1-13 744 Hobsonville Point Secondary Secondary Yr 9-13 544 School Papamoa College Secondary Yr 7-13 1302 I was also interested in visiting Albany Senior High School and Ormiston Senior High School, however, I was unable to schedule visits at the time I was in Auckland. Student Engagement There is much literature on the topic of student engagement and student disengagement, and the factors influencing it. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has made some key findings published in their report “Student Engagement at School, A Sense of Belonging and Participation” (2000). The criteria that they used for engagement were a sense of belonging and student participation. It is encouraging that they identify 75% of all students having a moderate-strong sense of belonging at school and that 80% of all students attend classes regularly. There are three key risk factors identified by PISA as significant in student disengagement: low socio-economic status, being in a single parent family and being born in a country other than that of residence. In our society young people can be faced with any one of these three factors meaning that our student population is highly at risk. It is also indicated that students who are in school environments where there are a large number of students experiencing these factors are more likely themselves to become disengaged from school. However, they identified a number of students who remained engaged despite these factors which indicates a level of resilience in young people to the challenges they face. The report discusses different viewpoints from a range of educators as to the best way in which to challenge this issue. It is argued that whole school reform needs to be undertaken with schools restructured to “create smaller learning communities” and “give teachers and students greater autonomy and evaluate students and schools in more authentic ways”(pg. 57). The alternative view supports curricular reform suggesting that our current curricula are “too narrow” and “highly abstract, verbal, sedentary, individualistic, competitive and controlled by others” (pg.57). The recommendation of this group of educators is to move away from a content focus towards developing student competency in the use of knowledge and skill development. Canadian Researchers J. Douglas Willms, Shawn Friesen & Penny Milton, in their report “What did you do in school today - Transforming classrooms through, social, academic and intellectual engagement”, categorise student engagement into three types: Student Engagement The extent to which students identify with and value schooling outcomes, have a sense of belonging at school, participate in academic and non-academic activities, strive to meet the formal requirements of schooling, and make a serious personal investment in learning. Social Engagement Academic Engagement Intellectual Engagement A sense of belonging and Participation in the formal A serious emotional and participation in school life. requirements of schooling cognitive investment in learning, using higher order thinking skills (such as analysis and evaluation) to increase understanding, solve complex problems, or construct new knowledge. Figure 1. Three dimensions of student engagement (pg. 7) The different types of engagement do not remain separate within an individual student. They are likely to experience different combinations of engagement in different subjects and levels of engagement are likely to vary even within one day. Strong, Silver and Robinson, 1995, suggest that students are engaged and motivated by four key goals: “Success (the need for mastery),Curiosity (the need for understanding), Originality (the need for self- expression), Relationships (the need for involvement with others)” (pg. 8-9). Having these four drivers provides the energy or motivation to complete tasks and supports the development of resilience to overcome barriers. It is also suggested that it is a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation which facilitates the development of successful and creative learners. So why is it that we aspire to intellectual engagement? The research carried out by Willms et al. describes disengagement as “a source of inequity” (pg. 7). In New Zealand where Māori and Pāsifika students are over represented in stand down, suspension, truancy and low achievement statistics, then engagement is a critical issue. Their findings indicate that engagement levels are at their lowest in secondary schools. Data also supports the PISA findings indicating that students from high socio-economic status and two parent families have higher levels of engagement. How do we structure tasks and activities to maximise engagement? Willms et al. describe factors in detail. Engaged Students Variety in activities, Opportunity to engage Expectations are Students feel respected learning approaches with

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